Tuesday, July 22, 2014

So, we're obviously talking about DRESSER DRAWERS today...geesh. What kind of drawers were you thinking?A few years ago, we had a contractor come in and bust out a wall in the attic bedroom (excuse me, Master Bedroom) of our bungalow. He pushed the wall back into the eaves of the roof 4 feet, and created some much needed closet space. In doing so, he also had to rip out one set of drawers that were built into the wall. We were able to keep the second set, so we still have one built in dresser. I love old houses and their quirks!

Drawer Skeletor.

Boxes o' beauty.

In the meantime, I had four large drawers to DIY into something fantastic. What to do with them? Turn them into bookshelves? Attach casters and use as under the bed storage? Burn them? At the time, I was working on organizing the basement, and needed some extra storage space, so the decision was made...drawers to shelving it was!

Yes, I can count. I know this is a picture of only three drawers, and I had four to work with.
Congratulate yourself on being observant.

Bun feet. The name just makes me want to give someone a hug.
Weird, right?

Since I completed this project 2 years ago, I don't have any other pictures of the process, but it's pretty easy to create a picture in your head. Here you go:1. Unscrew drawer handles.2. Plop one drawer on top of the other with the drawer faces touching each other.3. Screw a nut and bolt through each drawer handle hole in order to attach the drawers together.4. Attach old wooden bun feet from another scrapped project onto the bottom of the lower drawer.5. Have a nice young gentleman at Lowe's cut pegboard for you to attach to the inside of the drawers, screw up the measurements slightly, and offer you 15% off for his mistake.6. Smile and take him up on his offer.7. Paint drawers with an obnoxious color just for fun.8. Attach pegboard to insides of drawers with nuts and bolts. (Don't forget to put small scrap pieces of wood behind the pegboard so it sticks away from the drawer a bit! You want to be able to actually use the pegboard!)9. Use s-hooks and other fun organizing peg board pieces to create easy access to your most frequently used tools, painting supplies, etc.

Pea-green in all its glory. Don't mind all of the paint on the floor that has yet to find an organized home.

I never said it was pretty...just basement functional!

Presto chang-o! Wasn't that fun? If you have extra drawers lying (or is it laying? Grammar police, come attack, please!) around, don't toss them, reuse them! I still have 2 drawers leftover just waiting for a new life. As I'm currently creating a fabulous basement craft room, they just might get their wish soon!!And now, a picture of me dressed up as Where's Waldo? Why, you ask? Why the hell not?

Side note: this was Halloween 2011- there was school that day,
and I did call down several kids to my office to suspend them while dressed like this.
First and only day that nobody was pissed for being suspended.

Monday, July 14, 2014

The first thing out of Dave's mouth when I started this project was, "Please don't show that to anyone." Followed by, "Please tell me you're not hanging that in our house." Then followed by, "As soon as you're done with that thing, I'm punching a hole in it." No sense of humor, this one. The cause of this oh so serious marital strife?Here ya go!

Oh yes I did.

(I jest on the marital strife. If you know Dave, you know that the real message he was really trying to get across was, "Wife, I'm so proud of all of the DIY projects you do. They really add to the beauty of our home, and they also keep you busy so I can enjoy a glass of whiskey in silence. PS...you're beautiful." True story.)I can't really give you step by step DIY instructions on this piece, as I didn't create it, but I can give you the link on how to get it done yourself. I came across this lovely little Etsy shop awhile ago, and wanted to make one of her pieces. The shop is called GranniePanties, and the owner, Chrissy, creates templates/directions for various cross-stitch patterns. My favorites include the 90's rap lyric patterns...they're cute enough to hang on your wall, but naughty enough to cause someone to do a double take when they read it. Since most of her patterns only run around $5-6, they're super affordable to buy and make yourself. Here's a link to the website:

GranniePanties on EtsyAnd here's a breakdown of my costs to complete the project:Pattern: $510" Embroidery Hoop: $1.79Needles: Already had them, but they only run around $2 for a packEmbroidery thread: .39 each (for 6 colors)Cross-Stitch Fabric: $4.99 (but there's leftovers for another project!)All in, if you need to buy everything, you're spending around $15 for hours of couch sitting fun.

Isn't your heart just going pitter-patter with excitement right now? I know...you're too excited to even think straight.

Be warned, this isn't a quick project. But, it's also pretty mindless. All you have to do is be able to count squares, and loop thread through holes in an X. Plop your butt in front of the TV while there's nothing on during a summer full of re-runs while it's pouring buckets o'rain outside, and you've gotten yourself into a prime cross-stitching situation. I didn't follow Chrissy's instructions exactly, because, what fun would that be? To be honest, I really just messed up and counted wrong. Apparently counting squares isn't as easy as I thought. Oh well, it still turned out nicely, don't you think?

Cross-stitching outside on a lovely summer afternoon.Yes, that's the pattern on my iPad with a delightful oak tree glare.

I also didn't use the suggested thread colors, as I wanted the finished project to hang in my guest room. So, I took an extra piece of the wallpaper I have in that room to Michael's, (the store, not someone's house, in case you were confused. It happens.) and matched my thread accordingly.

Oh yeah, look at that progress. Fancy.Beautiful lap picture, no?

If you're lucky (and if I'm motivated enough to do another cross-stitch/want to blind myself), you may just find yourself on the receiving end of one of these hilariously inappropriate pieces for Christmas. Send me your wish list now...no promises.Now...how to finish this project off?

Option 1: Make into a lovely bed pillow.

Option 2: Make a hole in this wallpaper (GASP!) to hang the piece in a square frame on the wall.

About Me

I like to pretend that I'm Martha Stewart...minus the jailtime. Who am I kidding, though? I craft and decorate my house on a charter school salary. (Not familiar with charter schools? Take a public school teacher's salary and cut it in half. Ummm, yep.) I don't have a design degree. I am not an architect. I don't take woodworking classes. And I certainly don't have a bunch of hookups that get me free stuff or things on the cheap! I have a regular house, with the regular tools you'd find in any garage. I hope you're inspired by my mediocrity!